Today I came across some great old photos of early Toronto (Tbred) racing. It's incredible to see the crowd size at Old Woodbine/Greenwood. In one from 1926, it's raining on opening day but still packed, a canopy on the apron from all the umbrellas.

It's hard to imagine the work involved manually updating the toteboard. How often were they able to update the odds before a race?

-- 3rd photo (Wageringwindow): Also Greenwood? I've seen this one from other angles. Not sure if it's the same track or even which track it is but it's a sight. 40 open windows with lines 20 deep.

-- Last photo (devonshire-1920s): What a great building, eh? They probably knocked it down.

Thanks for posting MISS! these pics are great!Entering Mohawk they have a long row of pictures which some I believe are replicas of the pics you post. I always try to get to the track well before post of the 1st race to see the pics which capture the early days of Canadian racing.

12 to 15 years ago The Meadowlands took action on the Hong Kong races and they stayed open from midnight to 5AM on Fridays and Saturdays. I remember walking out and a huge Asian crowd would come in. It looked like more people coming in than leaving. I don't know what the numbers were or why they put a stop to it.

Thanks for the link. I love the Library of Congress photo archives. They have a great collection of old harness photos, too. I've spent several hours browsing on the site.

Here are a few from your link that stick out:

1903 [Hawthorne Race Track, group of racehorses, jockeys, and handlers in front of grandstand filled with spectators]

Wow! Hawthorne's grandstand at the turn of the century. Check out that giant cloth canopy. I wish a few of these great old grandstands survived. I think many old fair track grandstands are still around but it was the big tracks that had the elaborate ones, and they had to change with the times.

I read that before electric starting gates, horses just stood or circled around behind a chalk line or rope until the race started. I don't know a thing about Worth Race Track but it looks like the horses started at the finish line. I did just read elsewhere "Worth Race Track, Worth IL, now the site of Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, Mayor Richard J Daley is buried there."